


And the Livin' Is Easy

by Polexia_Aphrodite



Series: Gone for Soldiers [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Cigarettes, Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Petty Theft, Summer, Vodka, steve and bucky and natasha are outsiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 20:39:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/871742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polexia_Aphrodite/pseuds/Polexia_Aphrodite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They go up to the roof of Stark Tower every night, because it’s the best place in the city to watch the sun set.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And the Livin' Is Easy

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little summery fluff in the Gone for Soldiers universe. Hope you enjoy.

Bucky and Steve both hate the cold, for reasons that are both stunningly obvious and sadly similar. They’re both at their most alive, their most vibrant and ebullient, in summertime. Natasha finds the heat oppressive and uncomfortable, but they bask in it, dragging her along for walks through the city, trips to Coney Island, and long lunch breaks in Central Park.

It’s easier to keep a low profile in the summer, too, when baseball caps and dark sunglasses don’t raise any suspicions. After the battle in New York, and all the battles that followed, Steve’s star has risen, much to his chagrin. He doesn’t mind the autograph seekers and fans who follow him, not really, but he craves the relative anonymity that Bucky and Natasha still enjoy.

They go up to the roof of Stark Tower every night, because it’s the best place in the city to watch the sun set. Tony has a full set of patio furniture there, but so far they’ve been alone every night.

Natasha kicks off her shoes and sits on a cushioned bench with Steve and Bucky on either side of her. She settles back against Steve’s shoulder, one of his arms around her waist, propping her feet up on James’ lap. She’s wearing a red sundress that’s been driving Steve and Bucky crazy all day, and she arranges the skirt carefully around her.

Bucky pulls a bottle of vodka out of the canvas bag he carried there from Brooklyn, twists the cap off, takes a swig and passes it to Steve.

“Did you bring glasses?” Steve asks, one eyebrow raised.

Bucky sighs, gives him a look and thrusts the bottle into his hands. “When the hell did you get so dainty? Drink up.”

Steve drinks and passes. Bucky lights a cigarette and offers it to Natasha, but she wrinkles her nose and he shrugs, taking a long drag.

They’re quiet for a while, passing the bottle back and forth, the fading sunlight turning everything yellow and orange and red. Steve slides one of the thin straps of Natasha’s dress down her arm, running his thumb across the soft, tanned skin of her shoulder.

“Mets’re playing tomorrow, “ Bucky says absently, his hand sliding up and down Natasha’s calf, “We should get tickets.”

Steve nods and tells him it’s a good idea.

“Not the Yankees?” Natasha asks, and they shoot her identical, eviscerating looks. 

She makes a purposefully goading argument about how all the teams do the same thing, anyway, and she smiles when they launch into a joint lecture about why the Yankees have been no-good punks since 1941. Bucky passes her the bottle and she takes a long pull, feeling a warm tingle spread through her chest.

Natasha hasn’t been one for games, professionally played or not, for as long as she can remember, but she likes the idea going with them. She’d let them buy her beer and hot dogs and take turns explaining the rules to her. 

In low tones, Bucky sings a few bars of _Take Me Out to the Ballgame_ , grinning puckishly and running his fingers along the soles of Natasha’s bare feet. She throws her head back onto Steve’s shoulder and laughs, squirming. She tries to pull her legs away, but he catches her by the ankles and she laughs louder. She’s genuine and open, just like she always is when the three of them are together. Steve can’t help smiling, too, because they’re both so damn beautiful and he’s so damn lucky.

The door behind them creaks open and they freeze. In one fluid movement, Bucky reaches for the holster at the small of his back. Steve watches as Natasha straightens and slides up the hem of her dress to the knife strapped to her thigh, in solidarity with Bucky’s suspicion. He wants to roll his eyes at their paranoia, but he knows that it comes from years of running and it’s nothing to sniff at.

They both relax when Tony appears, followed by Pepper, Bruce, and Betty, a dark-haired woman Steve barely knows, but who has Bruce wrapped around her little finger. The four of them are talking and laughing, Pepper and Betty stumbling like they’ve had a few drinks already. Natasha looks back at Steve, irritation plain on her face. They’re about to be crashed by a double date.

Tony pulls a pair of yellow-lensed sunglasses out of his pocket and looks up at them in surprise. 

Bruce, amiable as always, waves and smiles at them, and Steve returns the gesture.

“How did you guys get up here?” Tony asks when they get close enough, “I didn’t think I gave you this clearance.”

Bucky grins and holds up a passcard that definitely doesn’t have his picture on it.

Pepper’s jaw falls open, “I thought I lost that.” 

Bucky snatches it away as she reaches for it. “You got a replacement though, right?” he looks up at her innocently, “So we’ll just keep this one.” 

Pepper frowns and crosses her arms. She shoots Steve a look, like he’s supposed to be the moral center of the group and keep Bucky in line, but he just shrugs and holds up his hands.

As the four of them take seats, Steve looks down and sees that Bruce is carrying a bottle of wine in one hand and a cluster of glasses in the other.

“I only have four--,” he starts, but Bucky stops him. He lifts the bottle of vodka with his metal hand, gleaming in the lowering light, “We’re taken care of.”

Tony’s eyebrows shoot up. “Why do I feel like we just walked behind the bleachers and found out where the bad kids smoke pot?”

Natasha chuckles and Bucky passes the bottle to her. The way she’s melting against him tells Steve she’s already feeling its effects.

They sit together quietly, the four of them sipping wine while the three of them pass vodka back and forth. Bucky lights up another cigarette. Steve tries to refuse the bottle on his turn, because so far he’s kept his un-Captain American behavior to the privacy of their little group and maybe it should stay that way. But Bucky frowns at him, and he gives in. He knows neither of them, especially Bucky, will ever let him pretend to be anything other than who he is.

It’s awkward at first, but it gets easier. Bucky’s always been charming, and now that he’s thawed out, that’s still the same. He regales the little group with embarrassing stories about he and Steve’s misspent youth, and about what Manhattan used to be like.

The sun dips below the horizon, which is usually when the three of them head back to Brooklyn, but Tony murmurs a command to JARVIS and the sitting area illuminates in a soft glow.

In the dim light, Steve sees Tony watch them, sees him look at Bucky’s hand on Natasha’s ankle and Steve’s arm around her waist. Steve can see the wheels turning behind his dark eyes, and he knows that by the end of the night he’ll have drawn some untoward (and not entirely inaccurate) conclusions.

But somehow it doesn’t seem to matter. Because he doesn’t feel particularly inclined to pretend like the three of them aren’t doing what they’re doing, like they aren’t going to fall into bed together as soon as they get home, like he isn’t looking forward to it. 

They all sit together for a little while longer. As Natasha, Steve, and Bucky, make their way back downstairs, on their way back to the subway, Steve walks between them, Natasha’s hand in his and Bucky’s arm slung around his shoulders. 

There’s no pretending that the two of them don’t mean the world to him.


End file.
